An anti-gambling group on Friday sued Gov. John Kasich in an attempt to thwart the Republican leaders plan to turn horse racing tracks into racinos.

The Ohio Roundtable said Kasich's moves to add slot machine gaming to the state's seven horse racing tracks and pass it off as an expansion of the Ohio Lottery is unconstitutional.

"He has taken short cuts and negotiated back room deals. He has attempted to use legislative action to deconstruct specific sections of the (Ohio) Constitution and implement his will," said Rob Walgate, vice president of the Ohio Roundtable and lead plaintiff in the lawsuit filed in Franklin County court.

The Roundtable has long opposed any form of gambling expansion.

Kasich on Thursday used an executive order to allow the Ohio Lottery to begin the process for allowing the tracks to begin to reconfigure and formally apply to have video lottery terminals, or VLTs, at their facilities.

The governor will count on VLTs to produce a new stream of revenue for the state's coffers. In 2009, voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing four full-service casinos to built in Ohio – in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.

Walgate argues that adding VLTs would require a similar statewide vote.

"The changes the governor wants to make today must also go through the same legal process," Walgate said. "He cannot abandon the rule of law just to turn a fast buck for the state."

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